The French company has decided to do a U-turn and give away for free the biodegradable bags, which had replaced the traditional plastic bags.Their main competitors such as Alcampo, Mercadona, Eroski and Hipercor offer them for free and low-cost chains such as Dia and Lidl, cost only three cents.

Last September the chain supermarkets started charging for the shopping bags. Since then the barrage of criticism from consumers has been constant. Customers have complained that the new bags break easily, according to the newspaper El Mundo .